LONDON — What has become of Europe? New laws targeting Muslims are reminiscent of a time when innocent Jewish children were abducted by masked monks and imprisoned in monasteries to “save” them from the eternal fire of hell. In our blind mistrust of religious differences, we are returning to the Middle Ages, when the only model for integration was the forced conversion of the minority religion to the majority.

Take Denmark, where the government has introduced new laws mandating that children living in “ghetto” neighborhoods must spend 25 hours apart from their parents every week. During this time, they’ll be taught “Danish values,” including Christmas and Easter traditions, and receive Danish language classes.

By regulating life in these neighborhoods, the government hopes to “Westernize” these children and immerse them in Denmark’s secular culture and society. They see it as protection of the many at the expense of the few. But the harsh penalties for non-compliance suggest intolerance for any form of foreign teaching, religious education and cultural difference.

Parents who refuse to cooperate will be fined and their welfare payments halted. The fact that these new rules target low-income, predominantly Muslim enclaves betrays the Danish government’s fear that the existence of insular Muslim communities will facilitate the development of extremist ideologies.

Denmark is not the only country to target its minority populations and religious freedom in this way. Austria and Belgium have proposed limiting kosher meat slaughter, for example, and several countries — including France and Norway — have banned religious head coverings in schools or among civil servants. Bavaria and Italy have floated legislation that would require crucifixes to be displayed in public buildings.

We urgently need to find more effective solutions that do not alienate a group of people based on their religion or country of origin.

These types of decisions undermine minority religious communities and have no place in a truly diverse and democratic Europe. Time and time again, history has taught us that civil peace and harmony can’t be achieved through repression and forced conversion. Discriminatory policies too quickly descend into totalitarianism — or trigger a damaging backlash.

In 15th-century Catholic Spain, the monarchy attempted to “solve” the Jewish question by placing restrictions on Jewish practices, then followed with forced conversion and expulsion. Jewish people were viewed with fear and suspicion as they were not considered Spanish citizens.

By the next century, the assimilated Catholic children and grandchildren of the Conversos — those who converted to Roman Catholicism during the 14th and 15th centuries — were much more familiar with the biblical texts than the general Catholic population. They became the standard bearers of the Protestant reformation, which resulted in the destruction of Catholic hegemony over Europe.

Czarist Russia also struggled to “solve” the Jewish problem through repression and discrimination. This propelled a disproportionate number of Jewish intellectuals to join the Bolshevik revolution, which almost succeeded in the destruction of Russian Orthodoxy and culture.

Muslims leave the Grande Mosque de Paris on May 18, 2018 after the first Friday prayers of Ramadan | Philiipe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

I feel lucky to live in Europe and consider inclusivity to be its hallmark. Cultural metropolises like London, Milan and Berlin are enriched by the many varied communities that reside within them, by their unique traditions, smells, sights and sounds. Europe is naturally inclusive and peace-loving; our societies are open and free.

So what is the right approach? There are certainly times when governments need to act. On Tuesday, Danish prosecutors charged Mundhir Abdallah, a Copenhagen-based imam, with incitement for having preached that the Quran calls on Muslims to “fight the Jews and kill them.”

Hate speech of this type is unacceptable in any civilized society. Indeed, if anything, the government was too slow to move. The mosque where Abdallah delivered his sermon was attended by Omar El-Hussein — the 22-year-old gunman behind a double shooting at a free-speech conference and a Copenhagen synagogue — the day before he went on his rampage. Denmark’s Jewish community had filed a complaint about Adallah’s preachings in May.

Violence and hate speech must be combatted, but security concerns cannot be used to justify discrimination against religious minorities. As long as Jews were the sole targets of Islamic terror, Europe’s response was silence and indifference. But following the attacks in Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels, Berlin and Nice, when every European is a potential victim, Europe has woken up to the threat of religious hatred. The problem is that the policies European countries have put in place to fight the threat of religious extremism are themselves highly damaging.

By enacting discriminatory laws in the guise of “protection” and social cohesion, Europe is slipping into pre-Renaissance religious intolerance.

After the devastation of World War II, Europe was rebuilt on principles founded in Judeo-Christian philosophy, such as the dignity of human life, decency, respect and support for the traditional family structure. But as governments seek to clamp down on religious differences in the name of security and defense, they are jettisoning these foundations.

We urgently need to find more effective solutions that do not alienate a group of people based on their religion or country of origin. Islamic extremism is distinct from Islam and this distinction must be made clear at a government level.

By enacting discriminatory laws in the guise of “protection” and social cohesion, Europe is slipping into pre-Renaissance religious intolerance, and aligning itself with the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East.

We must do better. Europe must wake up to the poison of racism and religious discrimination that affects us all, regardless of race, religion or citizenship, before it is too late.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt is president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER).

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Arnold Nussbaum

The writer himself gives the reason why his article is blatant nonsense: “The fact that these new rules target low-income, predominantly Muslim enclaves”
Let’s face it these people came to the western, secular society for only one reason, to escape a poverty that is mainly caused by their own archaic worldview.
Besides that, do we really need a group of people among us who think that genital mutilation of girls is absolutely essential because they don’t want these girls to find any enjoyment in the sexual act. “Keep your eyes closed and think of England.”

Posted on 7/27/18 | 7:18 AM CET

Cheeky NumberTwo

The two non-british (Iraqi) Muslims I’ve met were lovely people. Kind, considerate and calm at work. One refused to let his wife leave the house without him, and when she was allowed out she had to follow a respectful distance behind him…not alongside as you would expect.
The other arrived before his wife and slept with a white prostitute as soon as he stepped off the plane. He told me this infront of his wife who was serving us food. I was shocked and asked how he could not only do that but discuss it in front of her so openly. “It doesn’t matter what she thinks” he said

The author talks of dignity of human life, decency, respect and support for the traditional family structure. I’m not really seeing that all…Far from it. I see a patriarchal system where women are discriminated against and are treated like chattels and who are a long way from achieving the type of equality the author is demanding we provide.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 7:47 AM CET

Violetta Cossanacameni

Dear rabbi, Europe is secular and should stay secular. Religion is a hobby, just like gardening or playing football. You can play football as much as you want unless you violate the rules, which arose from the consensus of the whole society and which are embodied in legal norms. E.g., you cannot play football on a highway.
So you can produce kosher meat but have to obey the law on animal protection. If you do not want to, there are plenty of countries lacking such legislation.
And the same applies to all your other complaints.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:06 AM CET

edel .

First, let’s forget comments like @Arnold Nussbaum’s; he thinks mutilations are done by a particular religion rather that regional, or simply with his stereotyping more than a billion people with an “archaic worldview” just for a color skin and/or faith. Yet, I am sure he is thrill using apps made by this people and being attended by a specialist doctor of that faith…. or is that he envies that, in spite of everything, migrants still disproportionally succeed much faster than locals?

I think the author is dramatizing at bit more than necessary on comparing today’s Europe with dark ages, but what is happening in Europe is indeed a firm step backwards, let alone usually brings strong unintended consequences.

My grandma still goes to the beach in the blackest of clothes and a scarf (she is is supposedly grieving her already 2 decades long passed husband) and never called anybody’s attention. Likewise, her village give much respect to the dedication sisters of a nearby convent, that forgo a life of pleasures for the spiritual life. But now, in her village, people get horrified to see women of a toned skin in white scarf, let alone men praying in top of a rug in the nearby city; culture is such a strange thing.

Policies of those politicians just send a strong global that the West, are just not morally different from the countries they had left behind, just more economically fortunate. Those policies ignore that vast majority of the people wearing any type of veil do it more for identity than being forced by a religion (Quran actually makes no mention to scarfs) or by family members (you will be surprised how many husbands would actually like their wife’s in less conservative clothing). The trend of wearing scarfs actually started when women observed how disturbed people on the West were by it, their culture, their roots.

Yes, there is a tiny minority that forces women to wear extremely unpractical/demeaning clothing, but these policies always backfire with this subgroup, because it pushes them to either participating even less in society or, repress young women even further at home by focusing in restricting their communication with outsiders instead.

What is repugnant in all this, is that the vast majority of these politicians well know their policies are not to address a problem but rather to satisfy a part of a vocal constituency, ironically not much of a different technique to gain popular support from other politicians of certain countries we had learned for decades as detestable.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:22 AM CET

Joanna Motheroff-Angels

Rabbi, Is there a proper blessing for the Musulmans?
A blessing for the Musulmans? Of course! May God bless and keep the Musulmans… far away from us!

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:26 AM CET

Grabotte Deux

The title and the photo illustrating the article say it all…

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:32 AM CET

Johann M. Wolff

Dear Mr.Goldschmidt,

The new dark age is in front of my flat as 3 public schools are around. Women in dark clothes, completely covered sitting in groups of 8-10 and their husbands sitting 10 meters away. In the morning they are there, at noon where i’m going home in my lunch brake the are still there, and in the afternoon ditto.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:33 AM CET

Johann M. Wolff

@edel

You forget that Europe has its customs and values. Who doesn’t like it or want to assimilate is free to leave. None is forced to stay here.

“or is that he envies that, in spite of everything, migrants still disproportionally succeed much faster than locals?”

Where dear Edel ? certainly not in Germany. Look up the statistics. Morever, Merkel’s new friends (those coming from 2015 onward) are largely illiterate or completed 4 yrs of schooling.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:35 AM CET

Perry Winkle

How to contribute rationally in this post to an article selectively based on Christian European Culture without taking into account the repercussions of the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the onslaught and invasion of Islam in Europe, the crusades, widespread power struggles, Court intrigues, religious and cultural conflict, trading and economics. No Christian teachings condones the atrocities of the past. Some of those inquisitorial bishops in Spain were themselves conversos. There’s nothing worse than an ex smoker.
“We urgently need to find more effective solutions that do not alienate a group of people based on their religion or country of origin.”
Totally agree. The problem is that some creeds refuse to integrate and insist in changing their new guest homelands’ Laws and Cultures. Some States are legalising apartheid in their statutes. But not Europe.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:39 AM CET

Perry Winkle

@Violetta Cossanacameni
“So you can produce kosher meat but have to obey the law on animal protection.”
How I wish you were right. But I’m afraid you’re not. I stand to be corrected.
In Western countries special regional laws are in place contravening animal national protection laws to facilitate both kosher and halal animal slaughter. In these forms of slaughter animals are not stunned and killed in a most inhuman way. In some cases, as was reported in Indonesia, animals are brutality treated in the process.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 8:54 AM CET

Brian Snail

Why is it Rabbi that my children’s Jewish school has full time guards at the doors, why does my Synagogue have guards at the door?
A clue for you, the guards are not protecting us from far right populists.I don’t know who you claim to speak for, but let me be very clear you do NOT speak for me.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 9:55 AM CET

Iron Worker

“With anti-Muslim laws, Europe enters new dark age”… Sure, average european call it the “Renaissance”…:)

Posted on 7/27/18 | 9:59 AM CET

Roh Land

That is a pretty eleborate way of trying to justify Israels genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. But i do agree with the rabbi in some way, Spain shows us our future if we fail to peacefully seperate and go our own ways. If we fail we will destroy the greatest peoples and civilizations ever to have existed in all of human history namely the European ones, which would be a terrible tragedy and loss for humanity.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 10:29 AM CET

Tony Brown

This author seems to have a complete lack of knowledge of the history of invasion by Muslims of Europe over centuries.

They are an assertive ‘system for life’ that is highly assertive, is determined not to fit in to the local community and achieves its aims of becoming predminant by coercion then subjugation.

This is obviously a generalisation, many ate happy to love by our rules, but we should be concerned at the vast numbers of parallel communities that have been allowed to set up, who often bring their enmities from home and do not accept our culture.

Muslims are the majority in a substantial number of European towns. In 2030 the demographics show the majority of cirizens under 15 in Vienna will be Muslim. In many other places this will happen earlier.

Why should we throw away our culture for a civilisation that does not share our cultural values and does not intend to fit in.

Small numbers are welcome but the numbers being imposed on us will not disperse into our communities and be assimilated. Those who will respect our culture are also welcome but surely with substantial numbers much of their world view does not chime with European liberalism.

What a naive article

Posted on 7/27/18 | 10:47 AM CET

Roh Land

@Tony Brown

We are asking the impossible because there is a biological component as to why Muslim immigrants fail to integrate. The differences between the races is still a taboo subject but it is very real. We Europeans are fundamentally different from Africans, Arabs or Turks. They are not able to live like us because they are not like us. That is why you have this theory of ‘white privilege’ what they mean by that is that our societies because they are majority white nations, or were until very recently, have been designed to operate on ‘white’ terms and norms. Think of architecture, school systems, laws etc. these other peoples cannot thrive in such a societal construction. That is why you constantly get claims of ‘white supremacy’ when the law is applied equally without prejudice to race, because the very act of imposing our standards is ‘white supremacist’ they want to twerk we want them to be engineers so society doesn’t fall apart. Something is going to break at some point. So I suggest we create strict demographic limits and separate ourselves peacefully, basically re-introduce apartheid. And allow Africans and Arabs and others to live under a system that most suits them and corresponds best to their dreams and desires. Basically we already did that when we left our former colonies we literally left them to do their own thing, so we were happy and they were happy.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 11:41 AM CET

Hari Seldon

Mr Goldschmidt, what you fail to consider is that people wearing veil in european cities do not contribute to tolerance but rather enrage and heightens antipaties, ensuring that this group will never assimilate.

And we are indeed talking assimilation, not integration, because that is how european tolerance works – anyone acting like a european will be accepted as a european. Wearing the veil as a marker one’s muslim identity (voluntarily or not) is understandable as an act to protect the integrity of your own culture. Alas, it sends the signal that you do not accept our Western civilisation, even though you have come here to enjoy the fruits of freedom that your home country couldn’t provide (to a large degree because of the properties inherent to most islamic societies).

Posted on 7/27/18 | 11:44 AM CET

contango one

seriously is this guy goldsmidt for real or he’s done it on purpose
u know what the dark age is?
the dark age is that photo up top of those two fully covered in black strange creatures
that’s dark age

Posted on 7/27/18 | 11:58 AM CET

Just an EU guy

Middle age reference is a joke. It was a period of compulsive religious education. You were born in catholic environment you are catholic and you had to go to mass. You were born in jewish family, you were jewish, etc… You can thank secularism for today tolerance, not religions. And yes people had to fight, take harsh actions to impose secularism. And it is still an ongoing fight to have the right to chose what you believe in.

Seeing a priest or a rabbi preach tolerance is like seeing a toothless wolf preach for non-violence. Give him bigger guns and he will try to force its belief on you. Take the example of Jews in Israel that fight polygamy among Muslims ( It is their culture, their country too, but they still can got to jail. Fine example of tolerance) .

That being said, Danish policies are, from my perspective, too much. There is probably a fair dose of intolerance and probably xenophobia in it. But that does not mean that they should accept a communitarism model. It is fair to expect that migrants should seek integration . What ‘s the balance between integration and respect of everyone culture and beliefs? I do not know. There is not a single answer. But in doubt, if you are in Rome do like the Romans.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 12:10 PM CET

Perry Winkle

@Just an EU guy
“Seeing a priest or a rabbi preach tolerance is like seeing a toothless wolf preach for non-violence.”
When did you last see a priest preaching intolerance or violence? Why are you not mentioning self appointed imams, who are not subject to any formal training? Are you really an EU guy? If you are, then the EU educational system has truly plummeted.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 12:42 PM CET

Max Hall

The rest of Europe should follow suit and ban Kosher slaughter. It is unnecessary barbarism. Don’t want to eat non-kosher meat? Then don’t, nobody is forcing you. You can go vegetarian, it’s cheaper and healthier too. We are no more obliged to accept cruelty to animals than we are to female genital mutilation.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 3:16 PM CET

Anne H.

Reciprocity is essential.

For Muslims to be fully accepted into Western societies they must accept atheism, Christianity and non-standard religious and spiritualist practices as valid choices.

European Christians have long since accepted choice in belief. Muslim dogma (generally speaking) is much more severe and exclusive e.g. Muslims who abandon their religion will often be ostracized within their community. This lack of flexibility and complete disdain for all other belief (or non-belief) systems creates a huge barrier to real integration.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 4:28 PM CET

Dr Orthogonal

@edel .

well said!

Posted on 7/27/18 | 6:26 PM CET

EU doublestandards

I feel so enriched.
Said no-one, ever.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 7:03 PM CET

Henk Crop

@ Tony Brown. Well put.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 9:10 PM CET

Arturo A Costantino

The author shoul

Posted on 7/27/18 | 11:55 PM CET

Arturo A Costantino

The author should wake up to the reality we live in. When you can’t wear a kippah or star without being beaten in parts of Berlin the world has obviously changed.

Posted on 7/27/18 | 11:58 PM CET

Sean .

I disagree with the author. Western Europe today is probably one of the most liberal and tolerant places to live in the world.

Just because some European countries do not submit to everything that a particular religion demands, does not mean they are inherently intolerant.

Posted on 7/28/18 | 12:57 AM CET

Viliam Sinka

J C

After reading everyone’s comments, I have to thank God that in Eastern Europe people can still be proud of who they are. Unfortunately you Westerners are too far gone and can’t even have a healthy debate about it. I guess this the payback for colonialism.

Posted on 7/28/18 | 2:36 AM CET

peter lintner

” But the harsh penalties for non-compliance suggest intolerance for any form of foreign teaching, religious education and cultural difference.”

What a twisted logic this article is written in. Why should a country tolerate any form of foreign teaching, religious education and cultural difference? European civilisation is based on Christianity, there is no place for islam. Either they accept our rules and values, or go back home. Or what does Rabbi suggest? Europeans adapt to muslim habits?

Or in short. We must be getting closer to the end of this era, because its stupidity is at its peak. Thanks Rabbi for your contribution ….

Posted on 7/28/18 | 3:23 AM CET

Henk Crop

@ JC. You conclusion is correct. However not the explanation. It has little to do with colonialism. Some members did not even have colonies. The EU has fallen in the hands of a small Brussels elite, completely isolated from the people. They are obsessively building an EU Superstate, an EUSSR. Based on all kinds of beautiful moral principles however with a total disregard of the practical consequences and of the interest of the European people. No one seem to have any control over them.
( Jean-Claude Juncker, State of the Union Address 2017 ).

Posted on 7/28/18 | 2:05 PM CET

Gerald Canning

Judaeo-Christian philosophy? What do the peace-loving Jews have in common with their persecutors? The Muslims in Spain suffered together with the Jews and were eventually ethnically cleansed by Philip III.

Posted on 7/28/18 | 4:33 PM CET

Brbst Vks

Europe will enter a new dark age when muslims become the majority of people on this continent. If we don’t do anything in our power to stop that liberal values and our way of life will be wiped off the face of this planet

Posted on 7/28/18 | 7:12 PM CET

WJ B

Those people look as though they have bought the dark ages with them!
They do not seem to belong in my world!

Posted on 7/29/18 | 1:05 AM CET

Narayan Kumar

@Anne H – Islam does not accept coexistence or cultural diversity. It believes in supremacy of Allah and Islam and Quran and Hadith and all other BS associated with the desert cult. Don’t even think of reciprocity from the followers of this cult.

Posted on 7/29/18 | 6:45 AM CET

Ghost of JB

@edel

Your comment misses the point of the recent laws against Muslims, and is devalued because of it.

Women wearing burkas are not banned because their clothing offends western sensibilities, but because wearing Islamic clothing shows that a woman has withdrawn (or been withdrawn) from western society.

The significance of this today is that the communities that have withdrawn from our shared western societies are the ones most likely to plant bombs at children’s concerts, gun down innocent people in the street, stab innocent passers-by, and drive lorries into crowds of holidaymakers.

The people who do this don’t have to wear Islamic dress themselves, but people wearing Islamic dress are generally the water that they swim in…

Posted on 7/29/18 | 5:00 PM CET

Albert Leo

Religion is a mental illness. In fact, it’s a moral illness.

Posted on 7/30/18 | 2:06 AM CET

Johan Stavers

A return to the middle ages (nothing dark about them) sounds like a great idea!

Think about it:

Countries actually defended their territory, their people and their culture against invasive, subversive, fifth column enemies and traitors.

Even a full revert to the ‘dark ages’ would still be preferable to a continuation of this dictatorial universalistic humanism forcing the population of entire cities and states to be replaced by exotic ethnicities.

Close the borders and repair the European birthrate!
Or in the future Europeans will simply not exist
Well, Europe will be occupied, just not by the offspring of the original inhabitants
..who committed demographic suicide, many thanks to feminism and anti-racism.

Posted on 7/30/18 | 9:46 AM CET

Matt Wood

I believe this law includes motorcycle helmets and other face coverings simply to help prevent crime. As for Denmark, providing children with language classes to help them assimilate into a new culture is hardly a crime against humanity!.

Posted on 7/30/18 | 10:56 AM CET

Anonymous Coward

Tolerance is a good thing, a precious thing, but like all precious things it needs to be taken in small doses. There are limits to what you can tolerate even in an open society, and when one is aware that Christians would not be tolerated in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations you become aware that overdoing tolerance does not bring any rewards. The views of the Rabbi are irrelevant, he represents another religion that has always been a small minority in Europe, so he sees multiculturalism (wrongly) as advantageous to himself and his brethren.

Posted on 7/30/18 | 11:11 AM CET

Anonymous Coward

Liberalism has the seeds of its own destruction, because it only works well in prosperous and homogeneous societies. Once you have economic hardship and/or large scale immigration it leads to decline and anarchy – this is where we are heading now. In Europe people don’t have many children, principally for these reasons: (1) no or insufficient financial incentives from the state, (2) strong feminist culture, encouraging women to be very independent, (3) high materialism, with people putting disposable income as the top priority in their lives. With this mindset now dominant all over western Europe I don’t see how populations can even be stable, let alone grow, hence the perceived ‘need’ for immigrants. But this need is like inviting lethal bacteria into your body in order to eat a tumour; the tumour will reduce but the bacteria will eventually kill you as well.

Posted on 7/30/18 | 11:25 AM CET

Trisul Kiboko

This article is a load of BS. Turkey used to have such laws before Islamist dictator Erdogan came to power, and they are a predominantly Muslim country. Were Turkish Turks anti-Muslim?!?

Posted on 8/1/18 | 9:40 PM CET

Arnold Nussbaum

I disagree with the views of Anonymous Coward, but that I leave for another post.

What Islam and its religious cousin Judaism stands for is to the western, in its widest sense, culture alien for at least 2500 years.
Consider that at the entrance of the Temple of Apollo, yes they also had Gods, at the famous oracle of Delphi there was placed an inscription, the like of which you will not find on any temple or mosque anywhere in the Middle East, it exhorted the seeker of an answer to γνῶθι σεαυτόν – know yourself.
Our whole outlook in the western world is on self-examination, self-reliance and in essence independence of thought.
Compare this to the religions of the, dare one say it, Semitic tribes, unconditional, unquestioning disobedience to laws promulgated by a jealous, vindictive and harsh God.
That their coercion is devastating is evidenced by the fact that otherwise intelligent people like the Persians and Indians still adhere to this religion.

Posted on 8/2/18 | 6:54 AM CET

Addy B

The author is deluded…
Denmark should become a model for all European countries. To the newcomers should be made clear “there is no other path than integration”

Posted on 8/3/18 | 7:22 AM CET

Hermann S

I just posted a comment. But the comment hasn’t been published. Where is the liberty of Speaker’s Corner ?

Posted on 8/3/18 | 2:23 PM CET

je ne suis pas

@ Roh Land
I am assuming you are an American or a Brit because it is only people from these 2 countries who boil everything down to race and proclaim “white” as the best. Culture has nothing to do with “color” it is tied to environment. Which is why the so-called “white” people of the United States are culturally very different than 21st century West Europeans. Race is a social construct. This concept of “color” and being able to attach attributes to it was used by colonists to justify landgrab and genocide.